Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons...

So I was having a terrible time focusing at work today (whoever designed this EIR with a sans serif font should be shot), and for some reason a really random experience from a few summers ago popped into my head. And what are random thoughts for but to be shared on a blog?


This trip down memory lane comes all the way from 2003...I think. It was one of the summers that I worked at Lecture Prep, and since I was alone and not doing anything, I'm assuming it was under Dave, not Mike (the dictator that he is). Which means it was 2003. I was stuck in my little closet reading a book and/or crocheting when the phone rings. It's Dr. Asplund, asking about spontaneous combustion demos. This wasn't unusual for him (this is a professor who walked into our cupboard every Friday with the exclaimation, "It's Friday; I need to blow something up!"). However, he then goes on to explain that his sister's brother (or something like that...it's been a few years) somehow got involved with a BBC documentary about dragons. Dr. Asplund got elected as the expert on how dragons could breathe fire. So we chatted a bit about various reactions that would possibly fit the description, and I got to work setting everything up.

A few hours later, four British men (balding and bad teeth, the lot of them) come in with oodles of camera equipment and set it up in one of the lecture halls. Dr. Asplund comes out in full chemistry geek style: bow tie, lab coat (with a few acid holes for good measure), and big safety goggles. We burned magnesium, we started a fire with an ice cube, we torched gummy bears. But my favorite was the ballons. I once had the ability to create a mean H2O2 ballon. The ones I created on this occasion were no exception. We set off the first one, which shook the outer doors. They warily asked for a second take. The second time, they knew what was coming. One poor fellow got his portion of the camera whatever set up then sat in the far corner saying, "I'm gonna sit here with me fingers in me ears." Finally the fun was over, leaving me with a pile of glassware and so on to clean (which I'm sure I left until the next morning, being lazy).
So today, sitting in my office staring out the window, for some reason I wondered if that particular show ever made it to the air. I'd like to see how it came out.


Work was really boring today. :)